Many have suggested that decades-long partnerships between scientific institutions and governments have come to an end with the Trump Administration’s recent actions, both against specific universities and in a budget proposal that cripples funding systems for research, especially in the social sciences.
Throughout the history of modern higher education, various reforms to the university have been suggested. In response to the recent shock described above, scholars have returned to decades of suggestions for reform and criticism of the research and higher education systems. These suggestions are often built on misconceptions about the purpose of these systems. I address these misconceptions in this project.
SCIENCE AS A (FAILING) INDUSTRY: THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE
Though the Trump Administration’s attacks on science are unprecedented in living memory, government, religious, and corporate persecution of academia and academics is the norm across recorded history. To ensure the survival of scientific inquiry and truth as a societal value, universities must address the fundamental problem in it’s business model: an inability to sustain itself.
In this paper, I review the products and services created or provided by science as an industry, revealing fundamental misunderstandings that permeate the university system and lead to negative outcomes. Where gaps in funding were previously filled with grants and donations, I propose a re-orientation of the university’s products and services that serves the goals of the university, academics, and the education system as a whole and acts as a sustainable funding model for education, research, and faculty development programs.
This project is ongoing and will be published here soon!
UNIVERSITIES AREN’T “CAPTURED” BY LIBERALS, THEY ARE AVOIDED BY CONSERVATIVES
Universities primarily employ liberal faculty members, but this is not the result of a strategic political agenda. Instead, conservatives (who tend to be risk-averse) avoid academic positions, which often come with an unstable and unpredictable career path. Extensive interview, employment, and census data suggest that conservatives lead lives and have goals that are largely incompatible with academic lifestyles.
This project is ongoing and will be published here soon!